Drunken Gummies. So Throwback.

I was recently carousing through Pinterest, when I saw a pin for drunken gummies (also known as liquor or vodka soaked gummies). Birds were like, “Oh my GOD I HAVE to try this!”

“Wow! This is amazingggg!”

“Teenagers…wah wah… they are going to bring this to school..wah wah.. irresponsible.. It’s bad enough as a parent that I have to worry about guns, knives and bullies threatening the safety of my children… wah wah….”

First of all, as a former teenager I can ASSURE you that I never needed candy to convince or persuade me to make unsafe decisions. If kids want to sneak into mommy and daddy’s liquor cabinet and get silly they will. Oh, they will.

In fact, if a teenager were to select the least detectable means of drinking, it would not be soaking gummy bears in the family fridge for everyone to see. Water bottles are easier to hide.

Secondly, drunken gummies have been around foreeeeeeever (or at the very least 9ish years ago when I was in college). Where have you people been?? I’m strongly considering establishing a new college that educates clueless people in the art of things that make life the awesomest:

I have to thank and give credit to my college roommate Emma. She introduced me to this magical feast back in the day. If gnomes, fairies, unicorns and the Muppets got together for a drink, this is what they would snack on. Drunken gummies are like multi-tasking. Nibbling on candy and having cocktails simultaneously (both of which I strive to do every day).

Emma would buy a giant bag of gummy bears and soak them for the day, to be shared that evening amongst the dormmates. She even let me tape every Red Sox game. That’s almost 3 hours every night. And yes, it was on a VHS. So throwback. Amazing.

For some of you, this is an intro course (shame).

Others, a refresher.

You can serve these at a regular get-together, camp-out or weekend at the lake house with friends. Turn it up a notch and create a lovely, yet delicious presentation for showers, birthdays, pimped out tailgates, welcome home parties, family reunions (for bad-ass families), anniversaries (my mother insisted), or holidays.

Here Is What You Need For Your Drunken Gummies

– gummies *

– liquor

(*FYI they are spelled as, “gummy,” and “gummi.” I am a commitment phobe and therefore will be using both versions in this post.)

That’s it. Yup. You can either dunk them in a bowl of alcohol for a day or two, or leave them in longer should you care for a more effective fusion. In this case, I absorbed mine with spirits for about a week or so.

Pour enough to cover the gummies and pop into the fridge. Once they soak up after a day or so, I add more. Sometimes, I only add a couple of times, whereas if I am in a bad mood I may add maybe up to four refills or so over the course of the week. Gummies can really hold their liquor. Each day, I use a spoon (or even hands) to separate the gummies from one another.

The more you add, the more of a quaggy texture they can devleop. And the more dangerous. The less you add, the lighter the liquor taste and the firmer they are.

If you are a good, strong drinker just add regular liquor. Any kind (air on the side of caution with higher proofs). If you are a big sissy, then use flavored vodka (like whipped cream or cake). The gummies will taste sweeter and easier to slurp down. Please do not comment that these are too strong, because that is really up to you to decide how much to add. I’m sorry to say but IT’S LIQUOR! What do you expect? People these days, always trying to get drunk without having to taste alcohol. Nothing wrong with that, but don’t complain if it actually does. Anyhoo, I tried whipped cream or marshmallow vodka and it was very good. Sweet, but good.

You know that I had to do a touch more than just filling a bowl with regular gummy bears and cheap liquor. That wouldn’t be very 1 Fine Cookie of me. So I basically Super Sweet 16’ed it up.

Here are just some the gummies I decided to work with:

Gummy rings.

Gummy Army men (and women)

Gummy burgers

Gummy cherries

Cola gummies

Flower gummies

There were other colors in the bag as well, if you are looking for a different color scheme.

Gummy frogs

Red, white and blue gummy bears. Classic in so many ways.

Gummy sharks. Duh, nuh… Duh, nuh…Duh nuh duh nuh duh nuh…

I started off with a bowl, but discovered that laying them flat in deep dishes allowed for each gummy to have equal access to liquor. They also were less likely to break, fold, or smush. Don’t forget to cover up and refrigerate.

You must be careful when consuming these. They absorbed all of that liquor plus more.

Although we ate them out of the candy tub/bowl in our undergrad days, the possibilities for serving and displaying liquor soaked gummies are infinite.

Before I serve these, I dry them off a little on a paper towel.

For a birthday or welcome home celebration.

When I soaked these, I noticed some began to lose their shape or fold in half. I laid them flat and upright on a deep dish filled with liquor in order to maintain their shape and details. Remember, if you add too much liquor they can get somewhat mushy or gooey so for display purposes, be mindful of how much you add.

I really do have a deep love of all things red, white and blue. Add a little whimsical charm to your outdoor or summer parties with these :

In order to get your gummies to stay on any sticks, toothpicks, party picks, or skewers I would suggest only soaking once (maybe refilling a tiny bit more after the first round of absorption) and placing in freezer. The more wet they are, the more likely they will break in half and fall off.

I used marshmallow flavored vodka for these. Light any sparklers at your own caution.

Bridal anything makes me run and hide. Should a shower be thrown that serves these drunken flowers I would show up with plenty of gift-wrapped spatulas and thongs.

These are one of those that you should be careful about over-soaking. They will not stay on the toothpicks if they have absorbed too much liquor.

I made the bride tag with stock paper and scrapbook stickers. The flower pots are silicone ones for baking. I filled them with gumballs to hold the skewers upright. Toothpicks will not be tall enough so use skewers cut to the appropriate length.

I just so happen to love the following idea so much, I couldn’t decide between which photos to post.

I made drunken gummy cupcake toppers. Siders, I suppose, if you’re going to get all technical with me.

I only poured over one or two fillings of liquor over the gummy rings in a week. I froze the gummies before using them.

After piping on a swirl of frosting, I popped the cupcakes into the fridge. This made the frosting firm enough to hold the drunken gummy “necklaces.”

I used baker’s twine to make little necklaces and tie around the firm frosting. I placed the leftover gummies into little paper cups. As for the stars and numbers, I used numbers and asterisks stickers from an alphabet sheet for scrapbooks, and attached them to toothpicks/skewers.

****If you are considering posting up photos or ideas from this or any other posts I am truly happy that you are excited and find my recipes interesting enough to share with others. Please see copyright standards in the footer (bottom) AND follow them!!!!

These look great! P.s. I had friends in high school who DID bring these to school events, such as assemblies and band performances. Typically it was peach rings and rum… and this was 13 years ago, long before Pinterest.

@Rose, I went to high school about 13 years ago, and although occasionally things like that would happen most students were simply filling empty water bottles with their parents’ liquor. As mentioned in my post, we made these in college which when I attended was long before Pinterest as well.

LOVE IT … miss our college days! Your gummies look a million times better than the ones from college. Remember how we would just let them keep soaking, so much that the concoction turned into drunken gummy soup! AH HA, there’s an idea for your next recipe – alcoholic soup Miss you! xoxoxo

Genius. I guess I’ve been living in a cave — this is my first look at “drunken gummies”. I love the concept, and all the ideas — great! Presentation is just beautiful, too. All in all, it’s an excellent post and I will pass it along to any other cave-dwellers I encounter.

Wow, I have made boozy gummis before but you just blew my mind with the rum and cola bottles.
When I made them I left them in the fridge for an extra day spread on a cookie sheet so they we dry to touch and not sticky.
Also yes, when people complain that alcohol tastes like alcohol– come on!! What were you expecting?!

I actually think I am in love with you. You talk exactly like I do and I hate weddings. And your photos are so cute I want to cry. I think we should be best friends.
These are delicious; a real time saver for those of us (i.e. me) who likes satisfying drunk munchies whilst drinking. Killing two birds with one stone, two brain cells with one gummi.
Have you done skittles vodka? Holy. Mother. Mary.

trying these this weekend- girls weekend away.
Gummy(i) bears in the fridge soaking up vodka as I type
Raspberrys also in vanilla vodka soaking
Really dont know how I’m going to serve them but can’t wait.
I’ll let you know how things go (if I remember) haha

@kim,
In college we used our fingers but you know how it is in college. You can use mini Dixie cups to scoop and eat like a Jell-O shot. I dont know if you mean real raspberries or gummy raspberries but they sound amazing either way. Let me know how it goes and remember to store in fridge.

i was thinking putting them in the bottom of our glasses of moscato
Gummi raspberries with vanilla vodka is what I ment haha
oh yeah what happens if you dont store them in the fridge?
We have a bit of a drive but they’ll be in a cooler bag with ice so hopefully their alright

@Kim, hat is an excellent idea!
They turn into sludge (dissolve and sometimes stick together) if they sit out submerged in liquor. I would def leave it on ice, unless melted gummies don’t bother you. Please do update me with the results!

letting you know how they turned out-
my gummie bears didnt look as good as yours, they lost most of their colour
they did end up nice and big though so score!!!
Raspberry lollies dont work- they went all white wrinkly just like when you get out of the bath you’ve been in for too long. The sight turned me off those ones
My friend went all giggly when she a) looked at them b) had her second one haha drunk after 2.
All in all was fun will have to try with other lollies just to test of course.
Tip you do get mighty drunk after a few of these and the vanilla vodka was the best

@Kim, Thanks for the update! Probably even having in the cooler wasn’t cold enough. I had all of my different gummies soaking for A WEEK. My fridge is very cold. About an hour after I took them out they began to turn soft and fall apart. I would say it is either the quality of the gummy, or the temperature or storage.